The releases sure have been coming at a rapid fire pace lately, and with the upcoming release of The Brothers' War, it's once again time to talk about all the sweet new commons entering Pauper! The Brothers' War is one of my favorite lore moments in Magic history and was a major moment when I was just coming into the game back in 1999. To say I've been excited for this set is an absolute understatement. The basis for Urza's grudge against the Phyrexians and one of the most cataclysmic events in the game's lore set up the block that got me into the game. As such, it'll always have a strong place in my heart.

Thankfully, there's quite a bit to discuss with regards to everyone's favorite commons-only format this time around! In fact, there's so much that I'll be splitting this review into two articles, and I'll be covering the White, Blue, and Black cards today. As a note, given the prevalence of color-aligned colorless artifacts in this set, I'm including them with their respective colors this time, so don't be surprised if you see a few artifacts in the mix.

With that having been said, let's jump right into the review!

Airlift Chaplain

At three mana I generally think this is a bit too costly for Pauper, but the opportunity to hit your land drops or get a creature back from your graveyard isn't the worst value either. There're ways to take advantage of the mill with flashback effects such as Battle Screech, Prismatic Strands, and Faithless Looting. I feel that with most decks, this is just going to be fighting with better cards at this mana cost, but I imagine it'll see some play somewhere.

Ambush Paratrooper

We've been seeing a lot of these "cast Charge for five mana" on small bodies for a bit now. They don't really see a lot of play, but this one is pretty well priced at two mana. The combo of flash, flying, and 2 toughness mean it can even be a solid tool against Faerie decks and bird tokens alike. If the other mass pumpers aren't seeing much play, I doubt this one will either, but this one has a lot of great play potential for White Weenie decks.

Deadly Riposte

Another set, another deal three damage for two mana in White. Two life is a possible solid bonus for this, but I think most decks that would want this effect have access to better removal in other colors than to want to play this. If you're Mono-White, you have Journey to Nowhere and Sunlance. Pass on this one.

Loran's Escape

Hey look, it's the obligatory, "White spell that can be played in Mono-White Heroic!" of the set. Karametra's Blessing is generally just going to be better and you don't want a glut of this effect. It's possible you may want this for some more White-focused Affinity strategies that come up from time to time, but I doubt it. Most of those creatures will survive a myriad of spells and fights anyways as is, so this ends up being a card that may see some fringe play but probably won't.

Military Discipline

I'm mostly mentioning this because I know there'll be someone out there saying, "Paige, what about Military Discipline? Don't you think that would be good in Bogles?" No, I don't. The deck already runs cheap permanent first strike in both Ethereal Armor and Cartouche of Solidarity and both are better. You don't need more, and frankly even if you did, just play Hyena Umbra instead and be done with it. Same general sentiment goes for Mono-White Heroic (though that one does already play some amount of Hyena Umbra usually).

Phalanx Vanguard

Phalanx Vanguard is a cheap body that gets bigger when you get artifacts on the field. That happens a ton in this format and it's not hard at all to get this up to a 3/2 or a 4/2 on the next turn when it can attack. Even in White Weenies you can get triggers off Thraben Inspector or playing an Ancient Den. This is definitely one to watch going forward.

Powerstone Engineer

Let's see, attack, let this die, and you get a mana rock for abilities and artifact spells? Not a bad deal at 2 mana! I still think this is fairly weak compared to the number of strong aggressive White creatures we've been getting lately, however.

Prison Sentence

Hey look, it's the usual requisite Pacifism effect of the set! This isn't a particularly great card in the context of Pauper at all, but it is notable for being a strictly better Arrest. If you ever play a deck where you want something like that, play this instead, but I doubt you'll ever really want to do such a thing.

Recommission

Whoa, now this card is sweet! This is a two-mana Unearth (minus cycling) that can get artifacts back and not just creatures, and if you get a creature it gets beefed up a bit too. Now, much like Unearth, this is realistically going to end up being fairly niche in Pauper. We don't see Unearth much these days as is, and as such, we probably won't see this making the cut either. That said, it's still an outstanding design with just the right level of power for Pauper. I'm very excited to see what players try to do and it'll be cool if it makes a big showing. Even if it ends up not being the best card in the set for Pauper, it's still probably my favorite of the bunch, and I know I'm far from alone in that sentiment.

Scrapwork Cohort

Two artifact creatures for four mana (or three with the unearth effect) is big game in an Affinity-heavy field. Unfortunately, Affinity likes to have its artifacts come down in the first turn or two to set up big, splashy plays fast, so I wouldn't hold my breath on this one making the cut.

Tocasia's Onulet

I largely don't like this, but the life gain does happen on "leaves the battlefield" and not "dies," so there's a bit of play possibilities with this and flicker effects. I doubt that goes anywhere when God-Pharaoh's Faithful exists for Familiars, but if Tron wants some lifegain without looping for Weather the Storm or sacrificing artifacts to Fangren Marauder, this is a solid way.

Union of the Third Path

Cantrip and gaining a bunch of life is pretty sweet. You have to make this better than Renewed Faith and Revitalize for it to be worth it, though, and the only decks that would want to make use of that are Control decks. In Pauper, those decks probably don't want this, so if feels like a pretty easy skip, but if you can make it so this is a gain seven life each time you cast it, it's got some potential.

Warlord's Elite

A 4/4 for three mana and tap some stuff is a really solid rate. Considering that we also just got Argivian Phalanx in Dominaria United and White Weenies has been better than ever lately (even if it's nowhere near the top of the metagame) this definitely feels really good. Getting big creatures down fast is what that deck likes to do, and this is yet another way for the deck to do so. Keep your eyes on this one.

Coastal Bulwark

If you want repeatable surveil for your Wonderwalls deck, here you go. I'm not terribly high on this one, but considering that kind of combo deck can just lose to itself some of the time, it's worth giving this some consideration. You'll never get the +2/+0, though, with the deck only ever playing Forests, so keep that in mind.

Combat Courier

I love this. It's a cheap artifact creature that can help Affinity decks get big stuff down quick, poke for a point or two of damage, and then get sacrificed for some card draw. There's a lot to love in such a small package and I think this card is one that definitely has some amount of potential in Pauper.

Depth Charge Colossus

Reanimator decks rejoice! This is easily one of the biggest creatures Pauper has ever seen and it will absolutely bring the beats. Even the untap ability isn't that bad once it's on the board and you can really take down opponents' life totals fast if you can cheat this big creature into play.

Fallaji Archaeologist

Mill stuff, get an artifact, instant, or sorcery back; and if you can't get a counter on this? Not too bad, honestly! It plays in the same space as Augur of Bolas, though, and I think I'd usually rather play with that card instead. I could see some neat brews popping up with this in the future (self-mill enough to set up a Conjurer's Bauble loop win) but I doubt it'll be a major player.

Machine Over Matter

I'm very curious to see if this card ends up doing anything. Artifacts and artifact creatures are kind of everywhere these days, and having an artifact creature turns this into a one-mana Disperse. We've seen a lot of variations on this sort of effect in the past and none have really been good enough, but this is much easier to cast at the reduced cost. It's still a very middling effect most of the time, though, so I doubt it'll make the cut when most of the time it'll just be an Unsummon (and a bad one sometimes at that) but there's still plenty going on here that I like.

Mightstone's Animation

Oh man, an Ensoul Artifact in Pauper? Kenku Artificer already exists and has been putting in a decent showing, so adding this to the mix of indestructible artifact lands is a pretty big deal. Four mana is a lot, but the fact that you cantrip as well can't be understated. It remains to be seen if this card will be good enough to make the cut, but I love what's happening here either way.

Scatter Ray

I generally think there's better ways to counter things, but this hits enough spells that I'm at least interested in it.

Stern Lesson

This one is really interesting. Draw two, discard one at instant isn't necessarily the best because it's a net zero cards in hand, but it does give you a bonus powerstone out of the deal. We haven't had a lot of opportunities to play with powerstones yet, so I'm curious to see if that'll be enough to make this playable. My gut says no because of how there's better way to draw cards and not a lot of great activated abilities worth using the powerstone on, but I'm ready to be proven wrong.

Third Path Savant

Do you have active Tron and want to draw some cards every turn with your excess mana? Here you go, but I think your average Tron deck is just going to want to flicker Mulldrifters instead.

Weakstone's Subjugation

The fact this hits artifacts as well as creatures makes me like this card a lot, but if Bind the Monster doesn't see play, then I doubt this will.

Wing Commando

This is basically a functional reprint of Mistral Singer, which already sees zero play. This probably won't either, but it's worth mentioning that this has more relevant creature types as a human and soldier. In Pauper, this largely doesn't mean anything, but these types get a lot of synergy frequently, so it's worth keeping an eye on.

Ashnod's Intervention

This card is notable in that it breaks the mold of how these kinds of cards tend to be played nowadays. Usually, they bring the creatures straight back to the battlefield whereas this one brings them back to your hand, so generally this is probably going to be worse. However, this does save creatures going to exile and not just the ones who are dying. As a result, this does have niche applications in metas heavy on, say, Journey to Nowhere, and you can also use it to stop flicker nonsense for a turn. That said, I think this is too weak to make it in Pauper, but I like the direction this sort of design is going in.

Carrion Locust

Black aggro decks do exist and this is a well-priced flying beater that drains on ETB as well. It's not the greatest card ever by a longshot, but it has its uses.

Clay Revenant

This card's cool and the fact it's a recurrable artifact is solid, but coming into play tapped is definitely a drawback when compared to the likes of Sanitarium Skeleton. That card's not outright better because of the artifact type, but I think in most cases I'd rather just have the Skeleton.

Emergency Weld

A Raise Dead for two mana that also gives you a 1/1 is solid enough, but getting back an artifact too? Now there's a sweet deal! I don't think there's necessarily a good home for this, even in something like Affinity, but I definitely want to keep my eye on this. It's got far more potential than your typical Raise Dead.

Gixian Infiltrator

Golgari Sacrifice has always been a fringe deck that uses stuff like Carrion Feeder and Mortician Beetle, so this adds a bit more fuel to that archetype. I don't think you'll want to run this in high numbers because I'd rather play the aforementioned cards and not overload, but you'll definitely get mileage out of this.

Gixian Skullflayer

If you can get this to stick around, it can get really, really big. The problem is that it doesn't do anything the turn it comes down, the turn after that it's not overwhelmingly large, and then it might get there after that. It's just terribly easy to remove something like this in a world of Lightning Bolt, Galvanic Blast, and Cast Down. I'd pass here.

Goring Warplow

Cheap deathtouch creatures rarely make it in Pauper, but I'm a lot higher on this one when you can play it late game as a gigantic creature instead if you end up with a little too much mana at your disposal. The modal applications here are great and I'm very interested to see how the card ends up playing in practice.

Kill-Zone Acrobat

There're enough cheap artifacts I like sacrificing in Pauper that this will frequently be able to get evasion. That said, I don't think there's enough overlap between the Black aggro decks and the decks using those artifacts and it's probably not worth brewing around, so I don't think this will end up making the cut.

Overwhelming Remorse

It really isn't hard to fill your graveyard up with creatures, and this can easily end up being a one- or two-mana removal spell that doesn't just kill but exiles as well. That's pretty damn good for something like this, though it lacks some of the early play that most decks like with their removal. I think most of the existing low cost removal will end up taking precedence over this, but I still think this one can have a home.

Powerstone Fracture

If you're not playing artifacts, this is just a worse Bone Splinters. If you are playing artifacts, however, then this is extremely awesome. Sacrificing an Ichor Wellspring, Chromatic Star, or Experimental Synthesizer will get you extra value and you get to blow up a creature on the cheap. This card is super powerful and has a lot of potential in Affinity decks, so make sure you're ready for this one.

Ravenous Gigamole

I'm mentioning this largely because I'm talking about the rest of the cycle. Airlift Chaplain is good because it can hit a variety of things and has evasion while Fallaji Archaeologist gets back lots of things and is comparable to Augur of Bolas. This is just an overpriced dork that might get you back a creature, and I can definitely think of better cards to do this sort of thing.

Scrapwork Rager

In most Black decks, this is just going to be worse than Phyrexian Rager since it costs four mana over three. Even the Rager itself isn't as great as it used to be, so that makes this look even worse. Still, being an artifact and having unearth make it a bit better in some aspects, but I don't think it's good enough to get there.

Thraxodemon

We've seen a bunch of three-mana, sacrifice a creature and you draw a card effects on creatures before. Virtually none of them see play. The stats on this are fine enough, though, and being able to sacrifice artifacts is a plus, but needing to tap Thraxodemon is a real killer. Based on that alone, while I think this card is cool, I simply can't see it making the cut.

And that's part one of my Brothers' War Pauper set review! There're a ton of really cool cards in this set and I can't wait to see what ends up seeing play in the coming weeks. I'll be back Monday with a special unrelated article, but don't fret because I'll have part two of this review coming up soon after! We've got a lot more yet to cover, so I hope to see you then. Let me know on Twitter what cards you're most excited to play with in the set!

Paige Smith

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